Breathless
by purplebunnywabbit
Summary: Complete: Three different men in their own ways leave Max feeling breathless in spite of herself.


**BREATHLESS**

Summary: Three different men in their own ways leave Max feeling breathless in spite of herself.

Disclaimer: I do not own Dark Angel or any relatable characters. I am not making any profit from this piece of fanfiction. Must you _humor_ these facts?

* * *

Can Never Feel the Same

"You found me right? You remembered where I live." She bluntly reminded him, persisting with the squeeze of his hand.

"It's not the same" Zach says adamantly. Glancing down at the hand she no sooner took back.

"Just try" Max stubbornly insisted back.

"No, it's different with you. I mean, how could I forget… a single thing about you? How could I?" Max's paused momentarily deciphering the underlying meaning in his words. A look of shame yet a tinge of regret spreading over her features.

_How could he?_

How could he say that to her? He was her brother, her Commanding Officer, he was _family_. How could he imply anything beyond that? He really had forgotten her. Had he remembered her he would've known better than to say such an absurd thing.

Max let out the lungful of air she had been holding and looked away from his prying gaze.

All he could _ever_ be was her brother.

* * *

Perilous Relations

"Simple recon" Max smiles wryly in response to Logan's query.

Alec tagged along, attempting to beat her to the chase and fence off the priceless disks. It had been a gamble of sorts, impulsively planned between the two of them. She had decided that it was about time she gave Alec that ego check he'd been asking for. She made it look easy, while reclaiming thousands of Alec's potential spoils. The best part had undeniably been watching him plummet into the pool.

"Of course" Logan nods with a smug grin of his own having listened to the two over the radio com they'd set up. The communications he had spent the last hour on, cries unheeded. He couldn't help that this submerging jealousy triggered by the other man, was prevailing over the grim satisfaction for his 'fall'.

Max holds out the disks and his fingers narrowly miss as he inattentively snatches for them. Both glance up at each other in panic. Max gasps fearfully and steps back.

"Max, you know this sick source of entertainment thing. You had better get it checked out." Alec bitterly shakes his head emerging from Logan's washroom with a towel in hand. Still enormously pleased with the overall entertaining evening with Max. Despite her cheating and pushing in him in the pool, it had been a pleasurable night.

"Go wash your hands" Max worriedly demands Logan. She can feel her heart thudding in her head.

Alec glances from Max to Logan sobering up.

Logan hands Alec the disks and heads off into the direction of the bathroom, not questioning Max's command. She finds herself planted in place, unable to move, though she doubts her hovering would help anything.

Alec approaches Max regarding her horrified expression. "What's going on?" She lets out the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding and whimpers.

"I so do not wanna hear 'I told you so'" She declares brazenly.

"Well…" he starts sardonically.

"What did I just say?" Max retorts tensely.

Alec shrugs boldly.

Logan emerges from the bathroom not a moment later smiling at Max reassuringly. He approaches her carefully, not too close as to spook her away.

"I'm okay" he assures her.

"No thanks to me and those stupid disks" She glares at the plastic cases enclosing the invaluable information.

"Actually they are a couple irreplaceable, highly confidential disks that will blackmail a legion of gang members to lead better lives. Come to think of it _we_ should inform _Eyes Only_ and get him to make the casting call, shouldn't we?" back to business. "The lasagna is in the oven keeping warm." He grins brashly changing the subject as if it had never happened.

"Um… me and Alec we have a couple other _errands_ to run." Max steps around him carefully maintaining the gap overlooked earlier, swearing a silent oath that it wouldn't be overstepped again.

_Never_ again.

* * *

No More Holding Back

"Hold it" Max intrepidly interrupts. Alec looks up in astonishment. "We have unfinished business" she unflinchingly states.

"Ladies and Ungentlemen, here is the next contestant…" Biggs beams and the group of transgenics raise their voices in uproarious amusement as their two leaders came face to face.

"Not this again Max." Alec states with a sadistic edge, still taken aback by her presence.

"I told you to quit starting up this _'fight club'_ thing. What is this? The fourth time I've told you to shut down shop Alec?" she rhetorically questions.

"What do you have against recreation?" he gallingly challenges her.

"You sure about this Max?" Biggs unflappably asks.

"We're not fighting" Alec grimly glares in her direction.

"Oh yes we are" she fervently responds with an insubordinate cock of her head.

"Max, you don't want to fight" Alec levelly confers, attempting to persuade her out of the ring.

"I don't?" Max questions with a snarling response. Leaving him wondering what good it was to have wiles when it came to Max.

Max cuffs him not waiting for a response.

"Not the face Max" Alec moans covering his nose.

Max catches him in the leg with her boot. Her fists clenched in front of her, prepared in fighting stance to do it a few more times.

"Don't tell me you're gonna let a _girl_ kick your ass" she goads.

"About that…" Alec holds his arms out in a surrendering gesture.

She punches him.

"Wimp" she prods again.

"Max…" he grunts menacingly.

She punches two times more.

"What? Not even gonna bother to humor me this time?" She jeers.

"Max, what the hell…" he grimaces dourly recovering from her last couple blows

Max punches Alec again.

"Do you really think I wouldn't notice?" she vicariously shouts.

"Max, don't make me…" Alec warns humorlessly.

She swings at him and quickly kicks him.

"Don't make you what?" she bitterly rejoinders with a grunt before booting him in the stomach, falling him "that's weak Alec."

"Alright Max" Alec relents to her taunts.

Max attempts to strike Alec again, but not before he grabs her offending arm, punches her, and shoves her forward.

She vaults backward with the force of the blow and lands mere feet away from the inner circle of the audience.

Before she can fully get her footing, Alec kicks her into the concrete wall.

Max advances on him and knocks him over with the blow of her kick. He pulls her down and pins her down for just a moment, grinning down at her now glowering expression, his face mere centimeters from her own.

His gaze and hold softens for just a moment as she mutters a curse.

She knees him in the stomach at his hesitation.

He rolls away and they both find their feet.

She feigns a right fist and attacks with the left; he catches the expected move and felonious second fist but misses the first.

She deflects the fist he no sooner throws straight for her chest, and misses the roundhouse kick. The kick winding her, leaving her fighting for breath, she hadn't seen that one coming.

"Enough?" he exhales into her ear. He's now on top of her, holding her arm painfully behind her back. Max nodded resolutely rolling her eyes.

He rolled off her and lay beside her as she herself turned over to her back.

Harshly she exhaled her lost breath in a deep sigh.

"Well that was fun."

Max tilted her head and studiously examined him as he watched the roof with a shit-ass grin plastered over his lips. She nodded with a grin of her own. It was fun alright, but was that ever long overdue.

* * *

A/N: So I've had this one for a while. I don't know how I feel about it exactly. Tell me your thoughts. I should probably not be posting other fics while my poor other two wait… forgive me for this. If anyone does happen to have any ideas on any of my fics feel free to share.


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